Quote Originally Posted by rolloman View Post
Is it possible for someone to perform and complete the development work for a simple 3D project without having the physical printer. I'm asking because my father in law is wanting to get into the hobby anyway that he can, but in no way afford a printer. Besides the development is that part he enjoys the most and the physical product his development would produce is secondary to his interest.
If you are a RepRap'er... Everything is "Open Source". Mostly I like developing firmware, so the Marlin firmware is good for me. And I'm taking off on a ski trip tomorrow. I'll be developing pieces of firmware as time permits without a printer. Albeit, other people with printers will be helping with the testing. And all of the plastic parts of the printer are printed by the printer. So that is a lot of development opportunity. Most people developing printer parts are doing it for their own printer. They typically test the parts by using the destination printer to make the parts. But the CAD tools are getting good enough... You can get pretty far without actually printing anything.